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Jiaxing Power Plant reduces energy consumption by 15%

The Jiaxing Power Plant in China faced serious problems with its pumps due to the frequent damage to the mechanical seals. With the seals lasting only four months, it severely impacted the plant’s operations. The plant also struggled with a shortage of capital because of the excessive inventory for wear parts. The management sought a solution that resulted in a significant increase in pump efficiency and a 15% reduction in energy consumption.

The Jiaxing Power Plant is located in Zhapu Town, Pinghu City, Zhejiang Province, China, approximately 90 kilometers east of Shanghai. It has an installed capacity of 5060 megawatts and is in one of the most developed regions in China where there is a very heavy demand for electricity.

Zhejiang Tianda Environmental Protection Co. Ltd. Jiaxing Branch, is responsible for the supply of desulfurizer for all Jiaxing Power Plant generator sets. The desulfurizer preparation process is equipped with five sets of pumps made in-house: three pumps that are in use and two that are available for stand-by use.

The Jiaxing Power Plant found that the pumps didn’t work reliably, due to the short lifetime of the wear parts. Some of the spare parts, such as impellers, pump casings and liners, were functional for only 4-6 months.

Excessive inventory for wear parts causes capital shortage

The most serious problem they faced was the frequent damage to the pumps’ mechanical seals. With the seals lasting just four months, it severely impacted the plant’s operations. Moreover, the plant also struggled with a shortage of capital because of the excessive inventory for wear parts. It was time to look for solutions.

The Jiaxing Power Plant’s management team started visiting other power plants that have working conditions that are similar to their own, in hopes of finding ways to solve their problems. When visiting the Yueqing Power Plant, they found that Metso pumps were operating in an efficient way there.

The Metso customer from the Yueqing Power Station gave high praise to the superior quality, reliability and durability of the Metso pumps and explained that the lifetime of the key spares is typically about 5-6 years. He also pointed out the impressive fact that there is no maintenance needed in the first overhaul period. After their visit, the Jiaxing Power Plant’s management team asked Tianda, its supplier, to contact Metso China.

Starting with a pilot

After a careful study of the Jiaxing Power Plant’s working conditions, processes and requirements, Metso recommended an HM150MHC-S heavy-duty slurry pump. To test and confirm the performance, the plant purchased one unit of the recommended pump in September 2014, and the overall delivery was completed in November 2014.

After 10 months of operation, the plant was pleased to find that the pump was running efficiently. What’s more, when all the pump parts were removed for inspection, everyone at the site was surprised to find no visible wear to the parts; in fact, it was estimated that the pump could run for 4-5 years without changing the parts.

The Metso customer was very satisfied with the result and, in September 2015, decided to order an additional four Metso pumps to replace all the domestic pumps. All the Metso pumps were put into operation in December 2015 and they are still running today with no malfunctions or spare part replacements needed.

Benefits to the customer:

1. Lifetime of parts is at least 8 times longer than the original ones (approximately 4 years longer)

4. Labor costs for parts replacement will decrease by more than CNY 100,000 annually for five consecutive years, since the maintenance work required for the Metso pumps is much less than the every 4-6 months required by the previous domestic pump.

The management from the Jiaxing Power Plant is quite satisfied with the benefits that the Metso pumps have brought. And soon after this project, they strongly recommended Metso for another power plant project in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region.

“Metso has over 60 years of experience in developing and manufacturing pumps. Knowledge and experience gained through thousands of applications has made Metso a global leader in the pump business. Metso Orion horizontal slurry pumps deliver numerous the benefits to customers – the most significant being the lifetime cost savings,” noted Xiaojun Wei, Pump Sales Manager from Metso.